This film is part of Free

Snowy Journey from Washford to Williton

Snowy Journey from Washford to Williton on the West Somerset Railway

News 1979 1 mins Silent

From the collection of:

Logo for South West Film and Television Archive

Overview

Passengers travel along the steam-operated heritage West Somerset Railway (WSR) from Washford to Williton near Taunton in the January snow. Washford station is the second highest station along the line, there is a climb between the coast and the Brendon Hills. The Victorian station is also home to the Somerset and Dorset Railway Trust born out of the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway (SDJR), letters that adorn some locomotives still held by the WSR.

Washford houses a workshop for the renovation of locomotives and is the first station on the extension of the Watchet to Minehead line. Washford is unstaffed from 1966, closed in 1971 and reopened in 1976 by the WSR, unlike other stations it is situated in the village it serves. The village is known for Cleeve Abbey monastery. Willtion station has a signalbox that dates back to the opening of the railway in 1862, the last remaining box from the Bristol and Exeter Railway. Williton also has a goods shed, which came from the GWR works at Swindon, dedicated to the renovation of diesel engines.